Sir Keir Starmer declares gifts and freebies totalling more than £100,000 - the highest of any MP

[TealTraybake]

Perhaps the Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire needs his freebies because MPs aren’t paid enough. Or perhaps he’s just the knight commander of the most astonishing hypocrisy.

The Who got it right back in 1971

Won't get fooled again

We'll be fighting in the streets
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone
And the men who spurred us on
Sit in judgement of all wrong
They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I'll tip my hat to the new Constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again

A change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that's all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
'Cause the banners, they all flown in the last war

I'll tip my hat to the new Constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again, no, no

I'll move myself and my family aside
If we happen to be left half-alive
I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky
For I know that the hypnotized never lie

Do you?

Yeah

There's nothing in the street
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are effaced, by-the-bye
And the parting on the left
Is now parting on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new Constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again, no, no

Yeah

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

Ignoring all the Tory whataboutery, Labour stood on a platform of integrity. Far too many MPs(of any party) have fallen foul of the rules on gifts be it honest mistakes or not. Wouldn't it be easier for them not to accept any gifts.........like the Civil Service?

He declared it, then sought clarification about which category. So he did declare within the deadline, thus showing his intention was honorable, but missed the deadline to correct the mistake.

Quite frankly, if this is all there is to criticise him on, it's still a darn site better than the previous shower.

And for clarity, I didn't vote for either of them.

This. Is it impossible to find a non corrupt politician who won't try to exploit the public purse and abuse their position of power and privilege.

For everyone making an attempt to defend him…..how in the name of FUCK is that man gong to stand in front of this country in 6 weeks time and tell us that those with the most need to pay more? With a declared income of £404k last year he IS those with the most, but he’s not even buying his own clothes, neither is his wife and someone else is paying for their days out? So, if he wants me to pay more, I’m game….i just need to know where to go to get my free clothes, glasses, or trips to New York etc. All tax free of course. Oh, I don’t get that? Why, exactly not???

His hypocrisy is already laid bare. Even more so at the end of October when that sanctimonious freeloading grabby swine and his greedy cow of a deputy and that thieving robot bitch of a Chancellor all stand there and make sad faces about the "sacrifices" and "painful budget" that they will be inflicting on ordinary people while they rub their hands with glee and openly try to cadge as much money and and as many freebies as they can get their grubby hands on.

And it's taken about 30 seconds after they were elected for them to drop even the pretense of having any integrity. Almost immediately embroiled in corruption and freebies for favours and access...they are all rotten to the core
.

And this is why Starmer’s popularity has dipped below 30% in just 70 days…a feat no other PM has managed to achieve

Verifying the category, eh? On Newsnight just now they said he was trying to hide it (as office expenses or somesuch).
He's been an MP for 9 years, he's been gearing up to be PM for years: he ought to know the rules by now and have thought-through the receipts of gifts more carefully.

Meanwhile he, the millionaire, gets free glasses etc and I lose my WFP. Broadest shoulders, my arse.

He doesn't seem bothered that his approvals are non existent and that everyone hates him. He will do when he is punished at the next elections.

Well how disappointing is all of this

I can’t even be arsed to repeat the ACTUAL reality of the time scale and process of how his wife’s third party benefits/gifs were not declared until they were pulled up on it by their own advisors because clearly some people simply don’t give a fuck.
However, Lisa Nandy declared him ‘Mr Rules’. Fucking LOL.

Dear. Fucking. God.
Sometimes it’s difficult to understand how we end up with shit show we find ourselves in. Then you read things like this and realise these people are able to vote. And it becomes clear.

You know, you could have just said
’the money was just resting in his account’
It would have been less keystrokes.

Newsnight differs from the Reuters version it seems.

And yes he probably should know. As I said earlier, if we don't like the system, we should change the system. As I've said elsewhere, they're all as bad as each other, however on a scale of 1 to Boris, this hardly registers.

It is pretty strange the bribery act (2010) has literally no impact on the parliament? I mean since 2010, most private companies are scared to even give Prett Sandwiches during potential client meetings, (Seriously), forget even receiving Christmas hampers, but these guys accepting full on personal styling service like they will be on the Paris Fashion catwalk.

I cannot wait to do my tax return and say 'sorry i've missed the deadline, i wasn't too sure what category X is in, i assume i won't get fined for this given that i just wasn't too sure about the rules?'

We try to kid ourselves we live in a democracy...but we don't.

We have a broken FPTP system. We now have a government with a large majority, only voted in by 33% of voters, whose leader is taking bribes. In whose interest does Stärmer work? Who is Labour working for?

And how much does Sue Gray have on Stärmer? (Edit for spelling)

There's more to come 🍿

We have got a system though and in this case it wasn't followed (ie wife's clothes not declared).

But i agree that i simply cannot fathom that our MP's are allowed all this stuff for free. I would rather Starmer be totally impartial and use tax payer's money to have a secure space at his beloved Arsenal games rather than be in the pockets of a gift giver.

I approve of that but not of this.

Obviously the Tories were corrupt but we knew that and any fool that voted for them knew it too (or were gullible). They didn't pretend to be whiter than white.
Starmer pretended that he would clean up politics. I didn't vote for him but imagine those that did are disappointed. It's nothing on the scale of Tory corruption but it's not a good look.

Stärmer can pay for his own box at Arsenal if he wants to go.

Yes his integrity has gone out of the window. I'm not on a huge salary but even I can stretch to a Me & Em dress for a special occasion.

The optics for Labour are really not looking good at the moment.

I'm now left wondering if Rishi bought his own Sambas.

He's been a season ticket holder for years, but can't use his own seat due to security concerns. Arsenal are letting him use two seats (not a whole box) in the corporate area so he can still watch games. Do we expect politicians to stop doing normal things? - do we want them all to be as alienated from the normal public as Trump?

Between the right-wingers and the Corbynites, he's really getting it in the neck from both sides, and both sides are as blinkered as each other...

@DogInATent no, we don’t expect them to stop doing normal things. We just expect them to pay for the things they want to do. Why can’t he use the money he has saved on buying his and his wife’s wardrobe to pay for his own sodding tickets, like the rest of us do? Why couldn’t he say “thank you very much Arsenal, what’s the cost? I’ll transfer it now”? He could, he just didn’t want to. Grabby, hypocritical idiot.

I never said he couldn't go. I said he should pay his own way. Elected representatives need to represent those who elected them, not those who bribe them. Its very simple